The present invention relates to electric heaters. More particularly, the present invention relates to an electric convection heater that is supported directly from a wall-mounted receptacle.
Conventional electric heaters designed to provide auxiliary heat for individual rooms or spaces within a house have generally been small portable units that sit on the floor. These conventional units generally have a standard length power cord which is plugged into a receptacle to provide power for the unit. With such conventional type units having power cords, their use in bathrooms has generally been limited due to the restrictions against using these types of conventional heaters near water. The possibility exists that such a conventional unit can be exposed to standing water while the unit is still receiving power through the power cord. As will be understood, this possibility can create an unsafe condition. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide an auxiliary heating unit which could be used in a bathroom such that if the unit is displaced in any manner from its safe orientation and location, power to the unit is immediately disconnected.
Desirably, such an auxiliary heating unit would be mounted on the wall in the bathroom, with the wall being the location within the bathroom which is least likely to be exposed to standing water. Also, by mounting the unit on a wall, minimum space is taken up in the bathroom. This is advantageous because of the generally limited space in bathrooms of conventional design. Additionally, it would be desirable to be able to mount the unit in an upright orientation on the wall, no matter what the orientation of the receptacle in that wall.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a heater assembly that can be utilized without a power cord.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a heater assembly that is supported directly from a wall-mounted receptacle by a power plug such that if the heater assembly should fall, power is disconnected from the heater.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a heater assembly that mounts close to a room wall and that is able to provide for air flow into the assembly to be heated and out of the assembly to heat the room.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a heater assembly which can be directly mounted in a wall-mounted receptacle with the assembly in an upright orientation even with non-standard orientations of the wall-mounted receptacle.
According to the present invention, a wall-mounted heater assembly for heating a space is provided. The heater assembly includes heater means for generating heat only when receiving electrical power. The assembly also includes cover means for supporting and enclosing the heater means. A power plug is provided that is mateable directly with a wall-mounted receptacle to provided power to the heater means only when the plug is mated with the receptacle. In addition, means for mounting the plug directly in the cover means is provided such that the plug acts to directly support the cover means only when the plug is mated with the receptacle. Also, means for forcing air into the cover means to be heated by the heater means and to be discharged out of the cover means to heat the space is provided.
One feature of the foregoing structure is that the power plug is mateable directly with a wall-mounted receptacle to provide power to the heater means only when the plug is mated with the receptacle. One advantage of this feature is that, should the heater assembly be disengaged from the wall-mounted receptacle, power is immediately removed from the assembly.
Another feature of the foregoing structure is that means for mounting the plug directly in the cover means such that the plug acts to directly support the cover means only when the plug is mated with the receptacle is provided. One advantage of this feature is that the wall-mounted receptacle and power plug cooperate to directly support the heater assembly on the wall.
In preferred embodiments of the present invention, the heater assembly includes means for rotatably orienting the power plug in the cover means in one of a plurality of angular orientations. One feature of the foregoing structure is that the angular orientation of the power plug can be selected. One advantage of this feature is that the heater assembly can be mounted in an upright orientation even with non-standard orientations of the wall-mounted receptacle.
Thus, the heater assembly of the present invention is able to be mounted directly on a wall-mounted receptacle such that, should the heater assembly be displaced from its mounted orientation, electrical power is immediately removed from the heater. This permits the heater assembly of the present invention to be used in bathroom areas which heretofor were not adaptable to conventional type electric heaters. The heater assembly can always be mounted in an upright orientation because of the provision of the selectively rotatable power plug which adapts to non-standard wall-mounted receptacle orientations.